NUMBER
3 SPRING 2000

Henry
Reynolds discusses the
paradox of history's growing importance as politicians, judges, and community
groups turn to it for justification and inspiration, while at the same time
history struggles for survival in both schools and universities.

Jill
Byrnes makes a comparison of
aboriginal and non-aboriginal values based on her twenty years of working with
aboriginal people, most recently in the Kimberly region.

Jamie
Mackie reflects on the
importance of the Walk for Reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He
concludes that while racism is far less prevalent now than in the past, unless
we keep striving to improve race relations, we may experience little more than a
shift from hard to soft Hansonism in new and nasty guises.

Robert
Manne bemoans the decline in
collegiality and the rise of corporatisation in universities now led by
Vice-Chancellors who have acquiesced totally to the dictates of government, and
acclimatised so enthusiastically to the ethos of business that they have
betrayed the institutions whose well-being they were entrusted to safeguard.

Dave
Corlett discusses the
personal plight of refugees coming to Australia from the Middle East.

Bob
Birrell discusses the
world-wide upsurge in asylum seekers, how this is leading to a hardening of
public opinion against refugees in 'preferred destination' countries like
Australia, and the various policies governments are adopting to balance these
conflicting pressures.

Brian
Ellis reviews two important
books on New Left directions (Peter Singer, A
Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation and Anthony Giddens, The
Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy). Ellis agrees with Singer that
good policies have to be based on a realistic evaluation of human nature which,
as most modern Darwinists would agree, provides scope for enterprise based on
cooperation rather than competition. The
Third Way accepts the socially destructive forces of the market. According
to Ellis, Singer’s book explains why market forces should be curtailed when
they threaten the sociality and cooperation which are essential to human nature.

Clive
Hamilton - who advised the
Democrats on the environmental implications of the Howard Government proposal to
cut Diesel excise as part of the GST package - explains how the Democrat
leadership was prepared to ‘trade-off’ their environmental principles in
order to secure the government's agreement to remove the GST on fresh food.

John
Legge reviews No Logo by Naomi Klein. She describes the growth in the virtual
corporation in which brand image and marketing is everything and the work is put
out to independent contractors in the third world where workers and the
environment can be exploited with impunity. Legge discusses the riots at Seattle
last November, which were a reaction against the WTO's 'free trade' agenda and
the push for 'fair trade' which takes into account labour and environmental
standards.

Race
Mathews argues that the
results of demutualisation are not conducive to the interests of members or the
public.

Richard
Broinowski looks at the
history of Australia’s involvement with the United States in wars in Korea,
Vietnam and Iraq. He concludes that our involvement in these wars was not in
Australia’s interests. Broinowski asks if Australia has learnt from these
events and whether, if it is once more asked to demonstrate its loyalty to the
US - as may occur in respect of the Taiwan Straits or the Korean peninsula -
Australia will act in accordance with its own long term interest.

Kep
Enderby argues
that the explosive growth in the prison population throughout Australia is
caused by the response of political and judicial authorities to the community's
false perceptions that crime rates are rising and the instinctive demand by
public opinion for retribution - even though retribution is counterproductive
and serves no useful purpose except to satisfy a primitive desire for revenge.

Tonya
Stevens explains why we need
a trial of injecting facilities, based on her experience as a youth worker and
city Councillor in an area where drug-taking is rife.

Ian
Hundley describes
how professionalism in the Victorian public service was destroyed by the Kennett
Government. The Bracks Government's record so far suggests that the new ministry
is not interested in public service reform.